I would beg to differ about the never repeating dishes. He may want it to be that way, but there are certainly dishes that TFL has become well known for (the gougeres, salmon cornets, beets & leeks, oysters and pearls, lobster mac & cheese, etc.) and can't remove. The curse of becoming famous.

On the flip side of that, I've been to plenty of well respected "creative" restaurants that ultimately left me feeling a little empty (Mugaritz, é, Oud Sluis, Restaurant Andre off the top of my head). All had great execution and were undeniably creative, but that only goes so far.

The best sausage I ever had in Munich was at Feinkost Drexler during Oktoberfest. Great regular wurst but the knoblauchwurst is to die for. Garlic sausage sliced up and served on a bed of juicy kraut in which the brats simmered all day. The currywurst is great too.

I think they might have a restaurant or something outside of Oktoberfest time but I've never been.

I had a much better experience at Akelarre than Mugaritz. Mugaritz was super creative and there were a few good dishes but there were several flat out misses too that were sorely lacking. I just didn't think that the highs and consistency were as good as comparable restaurants I've been to (Noma, Fat Duck, In De Wulf, etc.). I found Akelare to be a much more special experience that was rooted in the cuisine of that area; modern and upscale takes on very traditional Basque dishes. Plus it has the most amazing view on top of a cliff looking over the water (not that Mugaritz' spot in the foothills is ugly). The service at both restaurants was good but I found Akelare to be a little more warm and friendly. Great and affordable wine list at Akelare too.

That was 2 years ago now though so maybe things have changed, but I personally would definitely go back to Akelare before Mugaritz.

Segio Herman of Oud Sluis fame in the Netherlands just opened up a new place in Antwerp called The Jane. No idea if it's good or not, but if it's up to his standards at Oud Sluis it should be very creative and very good; the space looks downright gorgeous anyway. Not sure about beer but it looks like they're putting together a good cocktail program.

Is Bird Rock opening another location in Little Italy? On the back of Juniper & Ivy's menu they thanked quite a few people/places and in one of the notes it said something about thanks to Bird Rock for their special blend and they're looking forward to having them as neighbors in the near future.

Do people still wear Ed Hardy and wallet chains in San Diego or is that just a really dated reference? That trend is several years old now; I know SD is usually slower with trends but even that was several years ago there.

What shouzen said. It's kind of the only way to avoid spoilage if you're doing a cocktail with fresh fruit. In a spirit infusion the fruit would only be a small portion of the volume so not much need to worry about that spoiling, but most cocktails would be more fruit forward.

Actually, that reminds me of one of the best cocktails I've had anywhere. The Worship Street Whistling Shop in London has a cocktail called "The Living Cocktail" that if I recall correctly is rum, tea, spices, and pineapple that have been fermented with penicillium roqueforti and aged in a barrel. Sounds disgusting but was so smooth and delicious.

Yeah, there are quite a few places all over the place that are doing barrel aging these days but bottle conditioning is a little more rare; guess it doesn't have quite the same cache. Small Bar does a few barrel aged cocktails but I don't think too many places in SD have actually caught on to the trend yet.

Ah ok. The cocktail was bottle aged. I thought you meant the vodka was bottle conditioned before being used in the drink and I was wondering if that was a new thing. Did they age it with the fruit? Normally you would only age pure spirits due to risk of spoilage.

I've seen bottle aging of cocktails at a few different places as well (notably 69 Colebrooke Row in London - where I think the trend started).

Feel free to critique and rip as you want. I don't know exactly where I'm going to eat or what days; will play most of it by ear. Plus whatever street food looks good to me at the time. I'm also going to do a food tour with Eat Mexico while I'm there. Pujol and Biko are the only ones I made reservations for ahead of time (with reason).